


Curses, Candles and Feather Dusters

by LaEnchanteRose



Category: Beauty and the Beast (2017)
Genre: 30 day challenge, AWWWWWWWWW!, Abuse, Adam and his rotten pre-curse attitude, Angst, Beauty and the Beast Fanfiction Celebration, Berries, Berry Picking, Children, Drama, F/M, Family, Games, Hurt/Comfort, I have to go and be different and not do the challenge the way everyone else is!, I know, Just a lil collection of Lumiette fluff 'n sweetness, Kissing, Love, Lumiere and Plumette being the super-adorable couple they are, Major feels!, Mischief, Picking and choosing prompts, Post Curse, Pre Curse, Romance, Smut, as is obvious by the fact that this is still rated T, be very thankful for that!, currants, during curse, feathers - Freeform, not between Lumiere and Plumette of course, or at least as smutty as I get, play, poor Cogsworth!, silliness, since this IS Lumière and Plumette we're talking about!, the Lumiere-caused variety of course!, the world's longest list of tags is finally complete!, they would NEVER do that to each other!, which isn't very, which should really be a given
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-04
Updated: 2017-07-26
Packaged: 2018-11-08 21:36:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 10,333
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11090418
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LaEnchanteRose/pseuds/LaEnchanteRose
Summary: A series of Lumiette oneshots based around the 30 Days challenge for Beauty and The Beast created by GabbyD (@ remuslupinsmiled) and queenallyababwa (@ thestanfoubrew). I'm doing this a bit differently than most people- for various reasons, there's no way I can write a fic for each and every one of the prompts. So I am picking and choosing the ones that most "speak" to me (I AM aiming to release each of them on the days they're meant for, however!). Hope you enjoy!





	1. Day 4- Bath

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After a long day of work, Plumette is delighted to discover a very thoughtful surprise from Lumière!

Plumette ached all over. Her back, her knees, her shoulders- everything that could possibly be stiff and sore was.

Adam was giving a courting ball the next day (a masquerade courting ball, in fact!), and that meant that the castle had to be absolutely, one hundred percent spotless. If so much as ONE speck of dust remained or ONE candelabrum was out of place… Well, let’s just say that aches and pains would be the least of Plumette and the other servants’ worries!

So the maid had basically had to squeeze two days’ worth of work into one- and now she was exhausted. What she wouldn’t give for- Wait! What was that?

She had just reached her room (she could still scarcely believe that she actually had her very own, after finally making it to the “upper tier” of servants!) and couldn’t believe what was there to greet her.

A large, wooden tub sat on the floor, filled with water (very warm water, going by the steam coming off of it!). But that wasn’t all. A lit candelabrum stood on a nearby shelf, and a fluffy, freshly laundered towel was draped over her vanity bench. Best of all, however, was what was floating on the water’s surface- several rose petals! Someone had decided to treat her to a luxurious bath. And Plumette had a pretty good hunch as to who that someone was!

 _How is it that he always seems to know exactly what I need?_ She thought, smiling as she stripped and stepped into the tub.

The rose water felt- and smelled!- so good that she almost cried. “Heaven, this is HEAVEN!” she sighed.

She soaked for a long time, letting her tired muscles relax. Only when the water began to cool did she finally haul herself out.

 _An extra-special thank you is definitely in order. Tomorrow, just as soon as the ball is over!_ Plumette decided as she slipped into her nightgown and headed for her bed.

Just as she was about to turn down the covers and climb in, she noticed a piece of paper lying on her pillow. A note was written on it, in elegant, neat handwriting that the maid knew all too well:

_I hope you enjoyed your bath, ma chérie. As you know, I will be très busy tomorrow preparing the food and drink for the ball, so we probably will not see each other until it is time to prepare le maître. But once all that is done, be prepared to dance the night away! I cannot wait, ma pain au chocolat!_

_Je’t'aime,_

_Lumière_

_P.S. I have a spécial surprise for you!_

Grinning at the thought of what her amour might have up his sleeve, Plumette set the note on her vanity. Then she at last climbed into bed and drifted off to sleep- unaware that the bath she had just enjoyed would be her last for ten years.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "Ma pain au chocolat" is French for "my chocolate bread". And I did not come up with that term myself. I saw it over on [Noblewriting's](http://archiveofourown.org/users/noblewriting/pseuds/noblewriting) tumblr, lumiereswig , on a post about pet names Lumière and Plumette might call each other (interestingly, she thought this one would be something the latter would call the former- but personally I think it would be the other way around. Why? Two reasons: One, Lumière seems more likely to use food terminology in pet names, and two, Plumette's skin happens to be chocolated-toned!). So thanks for the inspiration!


	2. Day 14- Blanket

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Plumette shows Lumière the one remaining link to her past.

“How about over here?”

“Fine, my back’s had about all it can stand!”

“Okay, gently now!”

**THUNK!**

The residents of Chateau de Villeneuve were very busy- because today was moving day. Moving day for Plumette, that is. She and Lumière had returned from their month-long honeymoon the night before- and now the maid was moving into her husband’s quarters.

She had spent their wedding night there, of course (as well as a few other nights before then!). But the couple had been far too busy enjoying being newlyweds to even think about trivial (well, it had seemed that way at the time, anyway!) things like moving furniture and personal items!

Now, at last, the time had come to do that- and all of their friends (except Adam, who had to run some errands in Villeneuve) had insisted on helping (well, Cogsworth hadn’t exactly rushed to volunteer- it took Mrs. Potts threatening to serve him cold tea for a week for him to agree to lend a hand!).

Even Chip had pitched in- until his “help” resulted in a broken perfume bottle (and an area rug that would have a VERY strong lavender scent for the foreseeable future!). Then, in the interest of everyone’s sanity, Chapeau had taken him (along with FrouFrou, who kept getting underfoot) out to the gardens to play.

Now Cogsworth, Lumière, and Cadenza were standing by Plumette’s wardrobe- which they had just nearly sent through the floor! “What part of ‘gently’ don’t you understand?!” Lumière exclaimed in exasperation.

“I didn’t want to break my back, if you don’t mind!” Cogsworth shot back.

Cadenza didn’t respond at all. Instead, he went right up to the wardrobe and hugged it! “I’m sorry, mi amore. I hope we didn’t hurt you,” he apologized to the piece of furniture.

Lumière had to stifle a giggle. “Maestro, that isn’t your wife, you know,” he gently pointed out.

The harpsichordist blushed. “Right. I still forget sometimes,” he mumbled.

“Did I hear somebody say something about wives?”

The three men turned to see Plumette, Garderobe, Belle and Mrs. Potts troop into the room, their arms loaded with clothes, blankets and other items from the wardrobe (naturally, they had emptied it before attempting to re-locate it!).

“Yes, you see, the Maestro-“ Lumière stopped short when he caught Cadenza giving him a “Don’t you DARE!” look. “Never mind, it was just an inside joke,” he amended.

“I like the spot you chose for the wardrobe,” Plumette said, trying to ease the awkwardness.

The men glanced at one another and cracked up- earning themselves some rather bewildered looks from their wives and friends!

“So, what’s next?” Cadenza asked, very eager to change the subject.

“For you two, rest. Your part is done,” Mrs. Potts replied, gesturing to the harpsichordist and majordomo.

“About time! I hear a hot bath calling my name!” Cogsworth declared, racing out of the room (well, as much as his old legs would allow him to, at least!) as though he couldn’t escape fast enough.

Cadenza took a bit more time, stopping to place a chaste kiss on Garderobe’s cheek before exiting.

“Thank you!” Plumette whispered to Mrs. Potts. She knew that the housekeeper had dismissed the two men solely to spare her the embarrassment of sorting through her more intimate garments in front of them!

“You’re welcome,” Mrs. Potts replied, smiling.

Then everyone turned their attention to filling the wardrobe.

______________________________

“Well, I think that’s everything except the blankets,” Belle said awhile later (putting away Plumette’s clothes had taken longer than they’d thought- mostly because Garderobe had nearly driven everyone insane with her myriad of instructions for the “proper” folding and hanging of garments!).

“Blankets? I can’t believe I almost forgot!” Plumette cried.

“Plumette, relax! It’s not that big of-“ Belle started to say. But her lady-in-waiting had already left the room.

“What do you suppose that was all about?” Mrs. Potts wondered aloud.

“Your guess is as good as mine,” Belle replied.

“Goodness, I hope I didn’t upset her,” Gaderobe put in.

The only one who didn’t offer a thought was Lumière- because he was halfway down the hall, heading for the female servants’ wing.

__________________________

Just as the maître d' had expected, his wife had gone to her old room. She was sitting on what had been her bed, holding something in her lap. Not wanting to intrude on what appeared to be a private moment, he started to back into the hallway as quietly as he could. But he must have made some noise anyway, because Plumette suddenly turned and looked at him.

“I should have known you’d follow me here, mon chérie,” she said, grinning as she patted the spot on the bed next to her.

Lumière didn’t need to be told twice. He stepped back into the room, closing the door behind him before joining his amour. As soon as he sat down, the identity of the object the maid was holding became clear.

It was a blanket- an old, somewhat frayed blanket with a beautiful feather design embroidered on it. He couldn’t recall having seen it before- but then, it wasn’t like he made a habit of searching through his wife’s personal things!

“It’s beautiful, ma chérie. Where did you get it?” he asked.

Plumette’s eyes took on a soft, sad, faraway look. “From my mother. She made it for me before I was born. She loved feathers,” she murmured.

“Obviously, if she named her daughter after them!” Lumière said, smiling fondly. Now it was his turn to get a faraway look. _What an adorable baby she must have been, with those big brown eyes and lovely black curls!_ The maître d' could barely keep from melting (thank heaven he wasn’t a candelabrum anymore!) as he pictured his darling as a tiny infant, wrapped in the keepsake she now cradled in her arms.

“I’ve never been able to let it go, because it’s the only link I have to ma famille,” Plumette said, jolting her husband out of his thoughts.

Lumière nodded. He understood- Plumette had lost both of her parents to the Plague as a child and she had no brothers or sisters (though things had ALMOST turned out differently- tragically, her mother had been with child when that awful disease claimed her).

Not knowing what to say, the erstwhile candelabrum put his arm around his wife and just held her for a while.

At last, Plumette broke the silence. “You know, there’s something very special I’d like to do with this,” she said, fingering her baby blanket lovingly.

“And what might that be?” Lumière asked, though he had a feeling he already knew the answer.

His wife moved herself onto his lap and looked him directly in the eye. “I want to pass it on,” she replied, just before capturing his lips with her own.

And it was a very good thing indeed that the Frenchman was no longer made of metal and wax!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In case you haven't guessed, my headcanon includes the fact that Plumette was promoted to Queen's personal lady-in-waiting after the curse was broken. She also still performs some of the duties of an upstairs maid (after all, it's not likely that Belle is going to need her every second of the day!), which is why I still referred to her as such a few times (plus, a lady-in-waiting IS technically a type of maid- one who attends people rather than objects!).
> 
> This is also my first time writing Garderobe and Cadenza- and I hope I did okay! For some reason, I find those two challenging to capture!


	3. Day 15- Tears

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lumière comforts Plumette after a rather nasty encounter with Adam.

  _If I didn’t know better, I’d think she was actually avoiding me!_ Lumière was becoming rather worried. It was nearly dinnertime, and he had not seen his dear Plumette since that morning- which was most unusual (ordinarily the two met up every chance they could!). Even more alarming was the fact that she had skipped lunch- something she never did unless she was ill. He had looked everywhere for his amour, but to no avail.

She wasn’t in the ballroom (Cadenza was, though- and the maître d' had nearly given him a heart attack!), she wasn’t in the library or the kitchen- she wasn’t even in the east wing, where the bulk of her work took place. The only sign of her that he had found was her feather duster, lying abandoned on the staircase nearest the west wing. He knew she had probably just dropped it, but he found it rather unsettling none the less,

 _Sacré bleu! Why can’t I find her?!_ Knowing that he needed some help, Lumière headed for the kitchen to speak with Mrs. Potts.

“Beatrice, I’m worried about ma Plumette. I haven’t been able to find her all day,” he told the housekeeper.

“I’m worried about her too, dearie. It isn’t at all like her to skip meals. Even Henri asked me if I knew whether she was all right,” Mrs. Potts replied (she was the only staff member who called Cogsworth by his first name- mostly because she was the only one who could get away with it!).

“So you haven’t seen her?” Lumière asked anxiously.

“Not really, I’m afraid,” Mrs. Potts answered.

“What do you mean, ‘not really’?!” the maître d' exclaimed, feeling extremely flustered.

“Well, I went up to her room just as soon as I was finished serving lunch to everyone else. I thought she might be there and was hoping I could convince her to come down and have a bite. She was, but she refused to come out. She kept telling me to leave her alone,” the housekeeper explained, shaking her head.

“Well, she’s not there now. I just looked,” Lumière replied, not doing a very good job of keeping the exasperation out of his voice.

Mrs. Potts looked quite concerned to hear of this latest development. “I’m sure she can’t have gone far,” she said, almost as if she was trying to convince HERSELF as much as her friend.

“I must find her. She could be in terrible danger!” Lumière declared, his resolve stronger than ever.

Despite her worries, Mrs. Potts had to stifle a giggle. The Frenchman always had to be super-dramatic about everything! “Good luck! And if there’s anything more I can do to help, just let me know,” she told her friend.

But Lumière didn’t hear her. He had already left to continue his search.

________

Half of an hour had passed, and Lumière felt more discouraged than ever. He had walked through the entire castle (except the west wing- he didn’t particularly want the Master to know that Plumette appeared to have run off!) twice- and still he had not located his beloved.

Now he was searching the gardens, inspecting every nook and cranny. There wasn’t much more to search, and he was just about to give up when he heard it- the unmistakable sound of weeping, coming from one of the more secluded gardens.

 _Of course! Why didn’t I look there in the first place?!_ Lumière thought, smacking his hand to his forehead.

You see, this particular garden wasn’t merely a place for flowers to grow- it was the maître d' and maid’s special place. Originally, it had been one of Adam’s mother’s domains (the other being the library). After she had passed, her grief-stricken husband had essentially abandoned the beautiful garden, unable to bring himself to so much as set foot inside it.

Adam had followed his example- so much so that the servants were now fairly certain that he had forgotten about his mother’s sanctuary entirely. But Lumière and Plumette had not. Knowing that the Queen would be devastated by the thought of her pride and joy being left to die, they had taken it upon themselves to tend it. And on many a summer’s eve, they could be found sitting together on one of the benches or taking a stroll through the flora, enjoying the peace and tranquility of simply being alone with one another.

Just then, however, quiet, romantic interludes were about the furthest thing from Lumière’s mind. And it was painfully obvious that his amour wasn’t thinking about them, either.

Plumette was curled up on a bench, her face pressed into her knees (which were drawn up to her chest) and her shoulders shaking violently with sobs. The sight of her broke her boyfriend’s heart.

 _I don’t think I’ve ever seen her in such a state!_ The Frenchman thought as he sat down next to his beloved and put his arm around her. To his great surprise, Plumette immediately pulled away from him.

“Go away!” she mumbled.

“Chérie, please, let me help,” Lumière pleaded.

“Why would anyone want to help me?! I’m just a worthless, clumsy, stupid maid!” Plumette spat.

Lumière’s mouth dropped open in shock. “Why do you speak of yourself in such a manner, ma amour?” he asked. Then, suddenly, before his girlfriend could answer, he KNEW. _Le maître!_ His darling had been clearly unlucky enough to have been the target of one of Adam’s tantrums.

But something still didn’t quite add up. The Prince flying into a rage was hardly unusual- it happened several times a day. And the staff had long ago learned that the only way to maintain their sanity was not to take his hateful words to heart. So something else had to have been going on.

As if she had read her boyfriend’s thoughts, Plumette raised her head and turned her face to him. And when Lumière saw what was there, he gasped in horror- and his blood ran cold. The beautiful, perfect, brown skin of his amour’s left cheek was marred by a big, ugly bruise.

“He struck you!” the Frenchman cried, struggling to keep his voice level.

“Oui. I accidentally broke his mother’s special vase while I was dusting the west wing- and he made it clear in no uncertain terms that I had just committed an act of treason,” Plumette said bitterly, her voice barely above a whisper.

 _That explains the dropped duster,_ Lumière mused. Obviously it had fallen from the maid’s grasp as she had fled Adam’s chambers, fearing for her life.

“That- that BEAST! That INHUMAN BEAST!” the maître d' practically shouted, shaking his fist at the sky, his pale face flushed red with anger.

“Lumière, SHH! He’ll hear you!” Plumette admonished.

“I DON’T CARE! He had NO RIGHT to do that to you! And he’s about to learn that to mess with you is to mess with ME!” Lumière yelled, leaping to his feet.

By now, he was so enraged that he could barely see straight. How DARE the Prince- non, the BEAST- hurt his chérie! He was going to march straight into that castle and- at that moment, a hand clamped down on his arm.

“Lumière, mon amour, stop! If you seek out revenge, we will both live to regret it. And that’s if we’re lucky!”

That sweet, gentle voice was all it took to bring the maître d' back to Earth. His fury evaporating (though he still inwardly vowed that if Adam were ever, EVER to lay a finger on his beloved again, he would not let him off so easily!), he sat back down on the bench, once again wrapping his arms around his amour. This time, she did not rebuff him.

“Why did he do it?” Plumette asked after a long silence, tears still stinging her eyes (though they were at least not falling as fast!).

“I do not know, ma chérie. But I DO know this- not one of the awful things he said to you today is true. You are une trésor, ma belle trésor…and don’t you ever forget that!” Lumière answered, pressing a tender kiss to the maid’s injured cheek.

For the first time since her boyfriend had discovered her in le jardin, Plumette smiled. “I-“

**BONG! BONG! BONG!**

She was interrupted by the castle’s main clock chiming the hour.

“I guess we’d better get back inside before Cogsworth locks up for the night,” she finished reluctantly, realizing for the first time how late it had grown.

“Oui- and I would like to make a suggestion,” Lumière responded, his eyes twinkling.

“Yes?” Plumette looked at him curiously.

“That we have our supper in my room- and then we sleep there together,” the Frenchman replied. Then, worried that he might have sounded a bit too forward, he quickly clarified, “I really do just mean sleep. You should not be alone.”

Grateful that her boyfriend had understood her unspoken desire not to face the rest of the staff (let alone the Master!) just yet, Plumette took only a split-second to reply to him- by covering his lips with hers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, you probably all hate me now for doing that to Plumette (and Lumière- we all know that his devotion to her is such that whenever she hurts, so does he)! I don't blame you one bit- I felt like a huge meanie writing this!
> 
> I actually came up with this idea before the challenge- it sprang from the fact that Plumette seems a bit more afraid of the Beast than the other servants (she hides behind Lumière when he starts raging after Belle refuses to join him for dinner, and the novel mentions her "nearly fainting" with relief when Adam was satisfied with how she did his make-up for the ball). I figured there must be a reason for that, so I started thinking about what it could be- and the rest, as they say, is history!
> 
> Anyway, I promise you that this will be the darkest OS in this series (there IS one other prompt I'm doing that deals with something unpleasant- but it's nowhere near as bad as this!)!


	4. Day 16- Memory

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shortly after the curse is cast, Plumette remembers the moment she and Lumière first locked lips.

Feathers- Plumette used to think they were beautiful, mesmerizing.  She had worn dresses adorned with them, written with them, stuck them in her hair (both natural and wig!), and, of course, dusted with them nearly every day.

Lumière often joked that her collection de plumes (which included everything from the offerings of local birds to some very fine Italian specimens that Garderobe had picked up for her surrogate daughter during a trip back to her homeland) must surely be the largest in all of France.

But now- now she had almost grown to hate them. The enchantress must have been one twisted woman, she though, to turn an innocent maid into feathers and ivory- and her equally innocent beloved into an object of fire!

Sure, she and Lumière could still see each other- they weren’t confined to separate areas of the castle like Garderobe and Cadenza. But they may as well have been!

When they had first found one another after that- WITCH- had done her terrible deed, they had tried to pretend like everything was just the same as it had always been, that they could still do everything they had as humans. But that had very nearly ended in disaster. Plumette shuddered when she remembered how her now-candelabrum boyfriend had accidentally set her tail aflame (thankfully, Mrs. Potts had been nearby and had saved the transformed maid by pouring tea on her!).

So now- for their (well, mostly Plumette’s!) own safety- they were forced to confine themselves to things like dancing and very careful, poor imitations of hugs. And that, as far as Plumette was concerned, was pure and utter torture!

How she ached to feel her amour’s soft, warm embrace (his HUMAN embrace, that is!) again, his soft hands in her hair, his luscious lips- Suddenly, the maid-turned-feather duster found herself drifting back in time to a most marvelous day several years earlier…

______

Plumette was 17, Lumière a few years older. They were the best of friends, and had been nearly inseparable (or at least as inseparable as possible for servants who weren’t supposed to be fraternizing with one another in the first place!) since the footman had come to work in the castle three years earlier.

The maid couldn’t be sure when her feelings for the flamboyant Frenchman had turned romantic, but there was no doubt that they had. Okay, she’d ALWAYS had a bit of a crush on him- but what was in her heart now was something far deeper. She wanted to be with him, to be his- forever.

There was just one problem- she couldn’t tell whether Lumière felt the same way. And she was afraid to ask him- or tell him how SHE felt, in case he didn’t. Why go and turn a perfectly good friendship into an awkward mess?

It was with these thoughts that Plumette went to meet the footman in the kitchen garden that lovely summer evening.

“Ready for our stroll, chérie?” Lumière asked.

 _Chérie? He’s been calling me that a lot lately! Then again, he IS fairly affectionate with everyone._ Forcing herself to calm down, Plumette nodded and slipped her hand into her friend’s.

Taking a walk amongst the flowers and produce had become somewhat of a nightly ritual for the duo. And usually it didn’t involve anything special- just enjoying the gardens and talking about rather mundane things. It was merely a way to spend time together.

But tonight was different. Well, not at first. They talked about how their respective days had gone, some new recipes that Lumière wanted to experiment with, whether Garderobe and Cadenza would make tonight an all-nighter in the ballroom (sometimes it seemed that those two didn’t know WHEN to stop practicing!)…but then, for no apparent reason, Lumière stopped walking abruptly and let go of Plumette’s hand.

“Mon ami, what-“

Before the maid could even finish her sentence, her friend had wrapped his arm around her waist and turned her to face him.

“Plumette, I- there’s something I need to tell you,” the Frenchman said, suddenly sounding nervous.

“What is it?” the maid’s face was flushed and her heart was practically pounding out of her chest (in fact, it was so loud she was surprised Lumière couldn’t hear it!) from their rather intimate proximity.

“I-I-“ Lumière stammered.

“Come on, tell me,” Plumette said gently.

Almost before she knew what was happening, the footman was leaning toward her- and then their lips were intwined. At that moment, she stopped wondering how he felt about her. He had just made the answer crystal clear- and she wanted to savor every moment of their very first kiss.

___________

“Ma coeur! Ma coeur, can you hear me?! Please, speak to me!” Lumière’s frantic voice startled Plumette back into the present.

He was being overdramatic as usual- but in this instance she couldn’t blame him. These days, it was almost impossible to tell whether someone was merely asleep or zoned out- or had gone and turned completely inanimate.

“I’m fine, mon amour. I was just daydreaming,” she assured her lover.

“Ah. Good things, I hope,” the candelabrum replied.

“Oui. I was reminiscing about the night we first confessed our love for one another,” Plumette told him.

Lumière was silent for a few moments- no doubt thinking of that night himself, and wishing that they weren’t prohibited from that particular activity at present. Then he blew out his hand candles and put a metal arm around his feathery love. “We will have our days in the sun again, ma chérie, I am sure of it!” he said.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Bet you were relieved to see this fluff-piece after the all the angst that was the last OS! 
> 
> Not much else to say/address this time around, other than the issue of Plumette seeing herself and Lumière as innocent in terms of the curse. As it says in the summary, this OS takes place in the early days of the curse- and I figure it's only natural that the staff would have been in a bit of denial about their role at that point!
> 
> Oh, and also, why I referred to Lumière a footman in this OS when I normally refer to him as a maître d'. Simply put, you don't start a job at the highest level. So I figure that at this point, with only three years of service under his belt (wait, did they even WEAR belts in 18th century France?!), our favorite Frenchman was probably still at the rank of footman.


	5. Day 17- Passion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The curse has finally been broken- and Lumière and Plumette can't keep their hands- or lips!- off one another!

It was well past midnight, and no one (well, no one over the age of ten, anyway!) was the least bit tired.

Belle and Adam quoted Shakespeare to one another as they danced and danced- their feet as nimble as when they had first stepped onto the floor hours earlier.

Cadenza felt no ache in his hands as he played melody after melody on his harpsichord. It was lucky that he knew most of the tunes by heart, because he had barely been able to take his eyes off his dear Madame- whose voice still sounded as fresh and lovely as it had at the beginning of the evening. And their baby, their beloved FrouFrou, was still in her arms- showing absolutely no desire to be set down.

LeFou and Stanley were off in a corner, holding hands and simply enjoying being together.

Cuisiner and Chapeau were in another corner, swapping stories of the last decade- and getting rather drunk (which, ironically enough, had turned the former coat rack- normally the quietest, most reserved person in the castle- into the loudest, most boisterous person there!).

Some of the revelers had left the ballroom altogether. Cogsworth felt younger than his years as he flitted about here and there, trying to dodge his wife as much as possible.

Mr. and Mrs. Potts had retired to the kitchen, where they drank copious amounts of hot cocoa (the housekeeper knew it would be a long, LONG time before she was willing to drink tea again!), sneaking kisses whenever they weren’t sipping. They also spent a great deal of time watching over their son, who was asleep on a make-shift bed (consisting mainly of the kitchen linens that had gone unused for the last ten years!) on the floor.

And out on a quiet, secluded balcony was a couple oblivious to everything- everything but each other. The entire castle could have crumbled into dust and Lumière and Plumette wouldn’t have been any the wiser.

“Human again, I cannot believe we are finally human again,” Plumette sighed happily, her arms firmly around her amour.

“Oui. No more candles, no more feathers- although I must say, they were rather becoming on you,” Lumière’s blue eyes twinkled and he nuzzled his face into the former feather duster’s cheek.

Mmmmm! He’d forgotten how soft and warm her skin was, how intoxicating it was to breathe in the lovely aroma of her perfume (which, somehow, was as fresh and strong as if she had spritzed it on only moments ago).

And the maître d' had absolutely no intentions of stopping his sensory exploration there. Grinning mischievously, he moved onto his chérie’s neck, pressing his lips to the lovely, dark skin that reminded him of the finest chocolate éclair (though surely no pastry could ever be as delectable!). At the same time, he slid a hand underneath the bodice of her dress and loosened her stays just enough to allow his eager fingers (fingers! How was it that he’d gone all this time without them?!) to rove freely.

To his delight, it wasn’t only his mouth and his wonderfully human hands that received such a treat, but also his ears- in the form of a most satisfying moan erupting from the woman he loved.

“I’ve missed that so much- SO MUCH!” the Frenchman cried out before he could stop himself (not that he particularly wanted to!).

Plumette pried her lover off of her and batted her eyes at him seductively. “Moi aussi,” she said.

And suddenly Lumière could stand it no longer. It wasn’t going to be the elaborate showstopper he had intended- even the speech he had prepared was far too trivial after everything they had gone through together. But nonetheless, he knew the time had come.

Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the item that- miraculously- was still there after all these years. Concealing it in his hand so Plumette couldn’t see it, he got down on bended knee before her.

“Plumette, ma amour, ma trésor, will you do me the honor of becoming ma femme?” the maître d' was barely able to get the words out.

Tears welling in her eyes, the maid threw her arms around him and peppered him with kisses.

“Oui,” her voice was little more than a whisper.

Beaming, Lumière uncurled his right hand, revealing the ring that he now proceeded to slip onto his fiancée’s left ring finger. Then, without pausing, he scooped her up in his arms and re-entered the castle, heading in the direction of his quarters. Several years ago, they had both agreed to save themselves for marriage- a vow that they no longer had any desire to keep!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And that, ladies and gentlemen, is an example of why I don't typically write smut! I toyed with changing the rating, but ultimately decided to leave it- this is fairly tame compared to some stuff I've seen in T-rated fics. 
> 
> Oh, and as for why everyone seemed to keep going and going without any aches, sore throats, and whatnot- I think Agathe may have had something to do with that. ;)


	6. Day 18- Fruit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lumière and Plumette go berry picking- and get a bit mischievous!

“How about these?” Plumette asked, pointing to a bush.

“Non, far too rotten! Look, some of them have already fallen!” Lumière protested.

The maid shook her head. There were exactly four berries on the ground. And those on the bush looked perfectly edible to her. But she wouldn’t argue. She knew how important it was to her amour that he serve nothing less than perfection at the table. And that was for ordinary meals. The berries they were picking were for something far more special.

Mrs. Potts was due to deliver her first child within the month, and the young couple wanted to do something extra special for her, something to show how much they (and the rest of the staff) appreciated her. They had decided to surprise the housekeeper by doing what she had so often done for all of them- fix her dinner.

And it was going to be a very special dinner indeed. Together, they had planned it all- right down to the very last detail. They had arranged for Jean to stop by the very next morning and wisk his wife off to Villeneuve for a “couple’s day off”. While they were away, the rest of the staff would prepare their “culinary cabaret” (as Lumière had dubbed it!).

It was to take place in the formal dining room (the servants’ VERY minimalistic eating area in the kitchen was hardly the place for such a fine meal!) and would consist of all of the housekeeper’s favorite foods. Lumière (with Cadenza’s help) had even prepared a little song and dance number for the occasion! (It was actually a tune he’d put together for Plumette a few years ago- but he had changed some of the words to make it a bit more innocent!)

And one of the main items on the menu was the food that Mrs. Potts craved above all others (even when she wasn’t with child!)- currant cakes.

“I sure hope she enjoys this. She’s been working far too hard!” Plumette sighed as she and her amour at last settled on a bush and began picking.

It was true- despite her protruding belly constantly getting in the way and everyone from Chapeau to Cogsworth urging her to take it easy, the housekeeper just could not seem to slow down!

 _But then, she’s not exactly the only one who has a penchant for overdoing things!_ Lumière thought, a twinkle in his blue eyes.

“I wouldn’t talk- mademoiselle dust in her sleep!” he teased.

“Lumière!” Plumette playfully swatted her boyfriend’s shoulder- with the very same hand in which she happened to be holding a bunch of currants!

“Oops,” she said meekly as she watched the bright red stain spread across the Frenchman’s golden coat.

Lumière looked at her, mischief in his eyes. “There’s just un thing I have to say about THAT!” he said, pretending not very successfully to be mad. Then he reached into his half-full bucket, grabbed a handful of currants- and threw them at his girlfriend.

“Hey!” Plumette cried as the fruit hit her square in the face. Not willing to be outdone, she reached into HER bucket- and the berry fight was on!

For the next few minutes, currants flew everywhere as the couple giggled and chased each other around, pelting one another for all they were worth. Plumette’s apron was soon dyed red, and Lumière’s coat was nearly the same shade as his hair- not to mention the fact that they had currant juice on their faces, their hands, even in their hair (it was very fortunate indeed that they had dispensed with their wigs for the moment!). But they didn’t care in the slightest!

Then, just as the maître d' was about to dump a handful of berries down the maid’s dress, someone came racing out to the berry bushes. When Plumette saw who it was, she had to suppress a groan.

“What on EARTH do you two think you’re doing?!” Angelique scolded, her hands on her hips.

“Why, picking berries of course!” Lumière responded, reaching over and pulling a few off the bush.

“It looks to me like you are WASTING them!” Angelique huffed.

“Oh come on, Angelique! We were just having a little fun!” Plumette insisted, not doing a very good job of keeping her annoyance hidden.

She and the elder maid had never been friends, and things between them had only worsened since she had been going steady with Lumière (Angelique, needless to say, had a major crush on the maître d'- and deeply resented Plumette for “taking” him!).

“HMPH! I have no time for this! Plumette, go and make yourself half-way presentable, IF you can manage that. We’re needed,” Angelique said shortly.

At that moment, Plumette caught sight of Chapeau hurrying toward Villeneuve on one of the castle horses. The combination of that and her fellow maid’s orders could only mean one thing. Their special dinner was going to have to wait- because the Potts family was about to expand by one!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not 100 percent sure whether currants grew in 18th century France or not (I DID do some research- but it wasn't very helpful!). So just pretend they did, ok? :)


	7. Day 20- Sick

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lumière looks after an ailing Plumette (warning: major feels!).

Being human again was SUPPOSED to be a good thing. They could finally do all the things they had once taken for granted- walk normally (or at all, in a few cases!), eat, love (Garderobe and Cadenza had barely been seen- having essentially locked themselves in their room!), in a handful of cases talk…and feel things.

It had been so long since they were flesh that even UNPLEASANT sensations were welcome. At least, that’s what Plumette had thought. Now, a few weeks after the curse had been lifted, she was beginning to think that perhaps being a feather duster had its advantages!

To say that the maid had not been having the best day would be an understatement- and it was only eight in the morning! She felt weak all over, her stomach hurt, her arms and legs felt the way she imagined Lumière’s must have all those years as a candelabrum, the castle seemed much warmer than usual, and her head felt like it was going to explode.

The last thing she felt like doing was working, but she knew she must. After all, the castle wasn’t going to dust itself! So, ignoring the little voice in her head that was telling her to go straight back to bed, she had somehow struggled through the past two hours- which had felt more like two DAYS.

 _This thing may as well be one of Cuisiner’s iron pots!_ she thought as she forced herself to lift her feather duster to yet another of the library’s bookshelves.

Then, without warning, Plumette’s head spun, her legs gave way beneath her- and she tumbled off the stepladder she’d been standing on.

“Sacré bleu!” the familiar voice seemed as if it were coming from far off. But it couldn’t have been- because Lumière was in the library within approximately two seconds.

“Mon dieu!” the Frenchman cried, his face growing even paler than usual at the sight of the fallen maid.

Then, before Plumette could answer, he spoke again.

“Don’t move ma chérie! I’m going to get Mrs. Potts,” he instructed as he rushed out of the room.

 _And where exactly does he think I’m going to go?_ The former feather duster doubted she could conjure the energy to walk, let alone leave the room! In fact, she could barely even stay-

“Good heavens!” Plumette didn’t realize she had fallen asleep until the sound of Mrs. Potts’s alarmed voice startled her awake.

_I must look like something FrouFrou dragged in!_

“For once, you weren't exaggerating!” the housekeeper told Lumière, echoing the maid’s thoughts.

“Of course not! Why would I ever do that?!” the Frenchman retorted.

At any other time, Plumette would have laughed and teased her fiancé. But at the moment she felt too rotten to do much of anything.

For her part, Mrs. Potts just shook her head as she bustled over to her patient.

“I feel AWFUL!” the younger woman confessed to her friend.

“I kind of gathered that dearie- gracious! You’re burning up!” the housekeeper had placed her hand on the ailing maid’s forehead.

As far as Plumette was concerned, however, it may as well have been an ice cube! “Ah! That’s cold!” she complained, jerking away. Then she began to shiver all over- and couldn’t stop.

“I don’t know what you were thinking, trying to work in this condition!” Mrs. Potts scolded.

“Well, someone has to dust!” Plumette’s excuse sounded silly even to her.

“Oui, but there are others who can take care of that. You could have seriously injured yourself, ma trésor!” Lumière spoke up, his voice full of emotion as he gestured to the stepladder his amour had toppled from.

Plumette just nodded. She was far too tired to argue- and besides, she didn’t really want to. The erstwhile candelabrum was right.

“And now we must get you to bed immediately!” Mrs. Potts declared.

“I’m n-not s-sure I can w-walk,” the maid admitted, her teeth chattering.

 “Who said anything about making you walk?” Lumière playfully retorted, lifting his trembling amour into his arms.

Everything after that was pretty much a big blur for Plumette. She was vaguely aware of people shuffling in and out of her room, including a dark-skinned man that had to have been Père Robert; someone must have gone to the village to fetch him. Hands holding back her hair as she spewed into what she assumed was her chamber pot. Something that felt like ice, being placed upon her forehead again and again.

Voices- some murmuring words of comfort and concern, others (two in particular- the operatic Italian soprano that had oft eased her childhood fears and the gentle French tenor that- when she was well!- made her want to swoon) singing soothing melodies.

More hands, repeatedly lifting her head and holding a cup to her lips so she could drink. Sometimes the offering was tea, which she welcomed- but other times it was an awful, bitter-tasting substance that she could barely choke down. (After the first few times, she tried to refuse whenever she realized it was the latter- but the hands would not let her. Even if she turned her head away, they gently moved it back to the cup, forcing her to drink the wretched liquid!)

And then came the dreams- non, the cauchemars . Her legs disappeared and a tail sprouted in their place- a feather tail. Her nose grew and grew until it became a beak. Her normally chocolate-toned skin turned white as the driven snow. She had become some horrible, mutant creature- half human and half feather duster.

But then she saw something else- HE was there. Sure, he was a human-candelabrum- but he was HER human-candelabrum.

“Lumière! When did you get here?” the mixed-up maid asked.

“I have ALWAYS been here, ma chérie,” the human-candelabrum said.

“But-“

At that moment, a human-teapot appeared in the haze. “The fever has finally broken, thank heaven. She should wake soon,” she told the human-candelabrum.

And that was the last thing Plumette remembered before she found herself blinking her eyes open.

She was back in her room- and an all-too familiar (and fully human, thank goodness!) face was gazing tenderly upon her.

“Chérie! At last, you are awake!” Lumière exclaimed joyfully.

“Oui,” the maid replied.

“Oh, mon coeur! I thought I was going to lose you!” the maître d' burst out.

 _He’s been crying!_ Plumette realized for the first time. “I’m all right now, mon amour” she assured him. She was, too- she still felt very weak and tired, but otherwise her symptoms had abated.

Then, suddenly, she remembered her dream. “Have you been here the whole time?” she asked her fiancé.

“He certainly has,” another voice- this one female- spoke up.

It was Mrs. Potts, Plumette saw.

“You were out of it for three days- and not for one moment did he leave your side. The rest of us tried to convince him to get some rest, to let us handle things for a while, but he wouldn’t have it,” the housekeeper explained.

And then Plumette knew. There may have been several people coming in and out of her room- but most of them had just been visiting (or, in Père Robert’s case, performing medical exams). The hands, the comforting words, the cold compresses- most of them had been the work of ONE person- her étincelle , her Lumière.

Before she knew what was happening, tears began to roll down HER face. “Merci, mon chérie,” she said, smiling as she leaned over to plant a soft kiss on her lover’s cheek.

________________

Over the next few days, Plumette continued to regain her health. She had at last persuaded Lumière that it was all right for him to leave her for periods of time and attend to his own needs. But that didn’t stop him from checking on her every chance he got- starting first thing in the morning.

Or at least it didn’t until the glorious sun rise on which the maid, at long last, found that she felt well enough to get up and resume her normal life. Feeling somewhat concerned about her amour’s failure to appear, she made his quarters her first stop. And the moment she laid eyes on him, she knew exactly why he hadn’t peeked in on her.

“I see it is my turn now,” she murmured as she sat down at his bedside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> About that cheek kiss- I figure that Plumette wouldn't want to risk giving Lumière whatever she had by kissing him on the lips (though as we saw, that didn't exactly work out too well!). I know they didn't really know abut germs back then, but obviously they DID know that diseases could be passed from person to person.
> 
> "Mon étincelle" is French for "my spark", in case you happened to be wondering.
> 
> Also- Why do we writers always make the bad stuff happen to Plumette?!


	8. Day 24- Game

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lumière and Plumette aren't about to let a little thing like being cursed stop them from having fun!

To the cursed residents of Chateau de Villeneuve, goofing around, playing games and otherwise having fun felt like something they had done in another lifetime (and in a way it had been!). Or at least it had at first.

But as time passed and they gradually adjusted to their new bodies and reality, they came to realize that being enchanted objects didn’t mean they couldn’t enjoy themselves. Slowly but surely, laughter crept back into the castle.

The staff came up with dozens of ways to while away the hours- sometimes adapting activities (often in VERY unconventional and humorous ways!) they had done as humans for their current forms, other times coming up with new types of merriment altogether.

Chip’s favorite activity was racing- he would tear around the castle on FrouFrou, pretending he was a fierce pirate. Or he would zoom around on his saucer. This was nerve-wracking for the adults (which was rather ironic, considering they didn’t HAVE nerves!), since the teacup wasn’t exactly known for being careful!

Some of his “casualties” included Chapeau, who had been nearly toppled several times; Plumette, whose tail had been accidentally stepped on by FrouFrou; and Cogsworth, whose experience had been by far the scariest of all- had it not been for Lumière yanking him out of the way at the last second, the mantel clock would have been flattened by Chip and his barking piano stool companion!

Fortunately, most of the castle residents chose much safer past times! For example, when she wasn’t urging her son to slow down before he broke his handle, Mrs. Potts liked to organize the kitchen staff into teams and pit them against one another in races and sporting events- some of which got pretty wild.

In one case, an over-excitable spoon had accidentally knocked over an open bag of flour- completely covering poor Cogsworth, who had been standing in the wrong place at the wrong time! Everyone else had found the majordomo’s being turned into a snowman (or rather, snow clock) rather amusing- he had not (especially since a certain candelabrum and a certain feather duster had discovered the spilled cooking ingredient rather quickly and had then proceeded to play in it- the latter using her tail to fling the white powder at the former- making an even bigger mess!).

After that incident, Mrs. Potts decided to calm things down a bit in the kitchen before something (or someONE!) got broken. But elsewhere in the castle, it was a different story. Even quiet Chapeau had gotten a bit rowdy- juggling and finding all sorts of other unique uses for his many arms (including giving Chip a ride by picking him up and spinning him around- something the coat rack did only when the former boy’s mother wasn’t around!).

But by far the most playful staff members were Lumière and Plumette. The lovers invented at least one new game or activity virtually every day.

These ranged from the feather duster tickling the candelabrum’s bronze nose with her tail- after which he would pretend to sneeze (this actually WASN’T a new form of amusement- they’d done it before as humans. The only difference was that, back then, it had hardly been necessary for Lumière to fake his sternutations!)- to the candelabrum putting on shadow puppet shows for his girlfriend (usually with her as the star!) by causing everyone and everything he could think of to cast a shadow by jumping behind it/them!

The couple also delighted in finding ways to annoy Cogsworth (one of their favorites being to start overtly flirting with one another the second he entered a room. Sometimes they even upped the ante by arranging it so that he caught them together in a closet!). And then there was Plumette’s favorite game…

_________________

It was a typical evening. The nightly fête des bête had been prepared, served and cleaned up, so the staff were pretty much free to do as they pleased until morning. For Lumière and Cogsworth, this meant settling in for their daily chess match. The candelabrum had just won (by cheating AGAIN, if one were to ask his mantel clock opponent!) yet another round when he suddenly saw a familiar flash of white.

“Bet you can’t catch me, mon amour!” Plumette playfully taunted, giggling as she zoomed out of the foyer.

“I wouldn’t be so sure about THAT, ma chérie!” Lumière laughingly retorted, abandoning the chess board to pursue his girlfriend.

“You should know by now that you can never out run me!” the feather duster teased, turning and heading into the ballroom.

“How can I, when you have the most unfair advantage of flight?!” the candelabrum pretended to pout.

The transformed maid giggled. “Exactement!” she replied, shaking her tail feathers flirtatiously.

“Ah, so THAT’S how it’s going to be!” Lumière smirked (or at least as much as he COULD smirk with lips made of metal!) as he followed her.

Plumette then made a swan dive under Cadenza, leading her boyfriend in a zig-zag pattern around the harpsichord’s legs.

The candelabrum was decidedly less graceful. “Pardonnez-moi, Maestro,” he apologized as he accidentally bumped into one of Cadenza’s wooden limbs (fortunately for the musician, he happened to have his hand candles extinguished!).

At last, the rather silly lovers exited the grand room- a very lonely sigh (and an anguished Italian cry that they understood only two words of- “mi amore”) following them into the hall.

Trying to push aside the guilt that she was feeling (really, she should have known that seeing her and Lumière so happy and in love would only serve to remind her surrogate father of his wife- and make him miss her all the more!), Plumette led Lumière through corridors, rooms, up steps…and any other place she could think of!

Eventually the duo ended up in the east wing- and the feather duster decided it was time to add a new twist to the game.

“Where did you go, chérie?” Lumière asked as he stepped into the familiar chamber into which his beloved had flown. The plumed maid was nowhere to be found.

 _It’s impossible for her to have left through a window- she has no hands to open them. And I would have to be blind not to have noticed her leaving through the door. Which can mean only one thing…_ As he was thinking, the candelabrum’s gaze fell upon the powder blue wardrobe that stood against one wall. _And for once she is actually awake!_

“Garderobe, have you seen ma Plumette?” the bronzed Frenchman asked.

“What? Oh, no. Of course not! Not a trace, not one feather!” was the reply he received.

If his eyes weren’t made of metal (and therefore immobile!) he would have been rolling them. The Madame may have been one of the best singers in all of Europe- but she was a TERRIBLE liar!

Just as he was about to question her further, he heard a giggle- a giggle Lumière would know anywhere. It appeared to be coming from...

“Care to show me what you’ve got in your drawers?” he inquired of the wardrobe.

Garderobe feigned a look of shock (not that she could form much of ANY expression, seeing as how her face and mouth were currently a pair of curtains!). “You naughty, naughty candlestick!” she scolded the metal man.

“CandelABRA! There’s-“ Lumière started to correct her.

“An enormous difference, I know,” the large armoire finished for him, wishing SHE could roll HER eyes!

“At least I’m not sneaky, like a certain-“ the enchanted maître d' was once again cut off, this time by Garderobe’s middle drawer popping open.

“Boo!” a gleeful Plumette shouted, launching herself at her boyfriend (though she stopped short of actually crashing into him, lest she burn herself!).

Lumière’s flames went out and he clapped one of his hand candles to his chest- right over the spot where his heart should have been.

“Ma amour, don’t do that to me! I saw my life flash before my eyes!” he cried.

“You’re so dramatic, mon chérie!” Plumette chuckled.

“And YOU, mademoiselle, are the most mischievous feather duster I’ve ever met!” Lumière replied, his voice full of both laughter and love.

“Well-“ this time it was the feathery maid who was interrupted- by a loud snore erupting from behind them.

“Come, chérie. We best leave the diva to her beauty rest,” Lumière said. Then he wrapped a bronze arm around his darling- and the happy lovers silently left the room together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, so much for a brief hiatus! Believe it or not, I actually hand wrote the whole thing during my vacation, so all I needed to do was transcribe it onto my computer. Shouldn't have taken long, right? Well, no...except for the fact that I just CANNOT seem to resist making a lot of "improvements" along the way! Long story short, even I didn't expect to take this long to get it up!
> 
> Anyway- "Fête des bête" means "feast of the beast" in French, which you probably already figured out anyway! 
> 
> Plumette actually knows a little Italian- kind of hard not to when Garderobe and Cadenza cared for her like a daughter since the age of ten! But she doesn't know enough to readily converse in it, which is why she couldn't understand any more of Cadenza's outburst than Lumière (whose knowledge of the musicians' native tongue only extends as far as basics like "mi amore"!). Just as well, too, since it wasn't exactly the most innocent speech on the planet!
> 
> And speaking of not so innocent things- That line where Lumière tries to get Garderobe to open her drawers...geez, could I have BEEN any more suggestive with my word choice there?! Leave it to that crazy Frenchman and his dirty sense of humor (which Plumette loves, by the way!) to make me blush at my own story (I'm not kidding, I honestly did!)!


	9. Day 25- Family

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Baby-sitting for Chip leaves Plumette and Lumière longing for the one thing they can never have.

“Faster! Faster!” Chip cried, bouncing on his horse.

The horse obeyed his rider’s command, picking up the pace.

“Good horsie!” the young boy praised his mount, reaching out to pat his wig.

The three-year-old’s "horsie", as one might surmise from the wig, was not exactly a typical equine. In fact, he wasn’t one at all! Chip was riding around the castle on the back of its maître d'!

Mrs. Potts had gone down to Villeneuve to spend a couple’s day (and night!) with Jean- and Lumière and Plumette had volunteered to watch her son until she returned the next morning. It had been quite an interesting day, to say the very least!

_________

The morning had begun with Chip refusing his breakfast porridge, claiming it was “yucky”. Lumière (who, quite frankly, agreed with the youngster’s assessment of their daily morning meal!), figuring the boy was missing his mother (she had left before he awoke), had immediately fixed him his special crêpes instead. Plumette had once dubbed them “Sourires de Lumière”- meaning smiles of Lumière- because that is what they always made her do. Fortunately, they quickly proved to have the same effect on small boys!

As soon as all that had been straightened out, it had been time for all the servants to begin work for the day (actually, some of them had already been working for an hour or two!). Lumière had to check in with le maître and do a few errands and other things that it was better not to have a child around for, so Plumette had Chip “assist” her while she cleaned.

First they had dusted together- the younger of the two using an old, slightly broken feather duster that the upstairs maids kept on hand as a sort of “emergency spare”. Like most kids, Chip loved imitating grown-ups, so things actually went quite smoothly. Or at least they did until the castle’s youngest resident decided his duster was “too dirty”. Before Plumette could stop him, he had shaken it out- scattering dust all over the room, effectively undoing all of their hard work (well, mostly Plumette’s- Chip may have been an enthusiastic cleaner, but he wasn’t exactly the most thorough one)!

Next Plumette (who had decided it would be best to leave the rest of the dusting until Chip wasn’t around!) had been foolish enough to let Chip assist her with mopping the ballroom floor. Little boys, soap cakes (or anything remotely resembling a boat!) and buckets of water are rarely a good combination- and this time was no exception. The youngster had immediately decided to pretend he was a pirate- which quickly culminated in one gigantic “tidal wave”, one huge puddle…and one drenched maid!

Then, while Plumette was busy cleaning up the mess, Chip had decided to try his hand at playing the harpsichord. Needless to say, the resulting sound was NOT music to the maid’s ears! Fortunately for her sanity (and her surrogate father’s instrument of choice!), Lumière had arrived shortly thereafter.

“You definitely show promise, mon petit Maestro. But I think we had better leave the playing to Cadenza until you’re a little older,” the Frenchman had chuckled.

“Okay, I’m older!” Chip had replied after about two seconds had gone by.

In response, Lumière had lifted him off the harpsichord bench and held him upside down. Then he had placed the giggling child on his shoulders and headed out of the room- leaving Plumette with a queer feeling that she couldn’t quite name.

________________

Chip had spent the rest of the morning acting as an apprentice to Lumière while the Frenchman went about his duties as Maître d'hôtel. They had both been delighted with the arrangement, but Cogsworth had not! It was bad enough that the younger man tended to neglect his duties in favor of Plumette on a daily basis (something the Frenchman had been VERY quick to deny, insisting that doing his job- and doing it well!- was of “the utmost importance” to him!), he’d grumbled. The last thing he needed was even MORE distraction!

It didn’t exactly help matters that the majordomo wasn’t all that fond of children to begin with- he saw them as a nuisance. (Or at least, that’s what he claimed. Lumière, however, strongly suspected that he was actually fonder of Chip than he let on- and he knew, from what his amour and others had told him, that his ami had also had a soft spot for a certain dark-skinned, feather-loving little girl with big brown doe eyes and raven curls who had come to the castle over a decade earlier!)

He certainly had never had any desire to have any himself- and had remarked on more than one occasion about how he was rather relieved that Clothilde was barren (which saddened and angered Lumière and often caused arguments between the pair- the maître d' knew his comrade’s wife wasn’t exactly the most pleasant person in the world, but even so, he could not understand how any man could say such a thing about the one who held his heart!).

In any case, Lumière had responded to his ami’s protests the way he normally did- by offering funny retorts and then ignoring them! He had continued to let Chip assist him with his duties right up through the noon hour, when the two prepared and packed a picnic lunch to eat with Plumette in the gardens.

Once they were properly sated, it had been time for the little boy to have his nap. Unfortunately, he had been far more interested in bouncing on his bed then sleeping! No matter what Lumière and Plumette did, their young charge refused to settle down.

That is, until the maître d' had started singing lullabies. Within minutes, Chip had slipped off to dreamland…and so had Plumette (the youngster’s antics- both presently and earlier that morning- having left her rather exhausted!). Lumière had followed them shortly thereafter- and the trio probably would have slept straight through dinner had Cogsworth not woken them!

Needless to say, the majordomo had NOT been pleased about their behavior. He’d been even LESS pleased when the lovebirds had decided to give Chip a special treat and allow him to join them and the rest of the “top tier” staff for the evening meal (ordinarily Mrs. Potts fed her son separately, since he was so young).

However, he had been the only one. One might think that quiet, proper Chapeau would share Cogsworth’s feelings about children. But he didn’t. Like Lumière and Plumette, the valet saw Chip as a nephew and was always happy to spend time with him. For their part, Garderobe and Cadenza could barely get enough of the boy. They loved children (so much so that when Plumette- having just been orphaned- had found her way to Chateau de Villeneuve at the age of ten, they had not hesitated to take her in!), but had been unable to have any of their own.

Ironically, they had no difficulties conceiving. They had done so several times. But, for whatever reason, the diva’s body had ultimately rejected each pregnancy. So they lavished attention on the only “children” they could- Chip and their new puppy, FrouFrou (with Garderobe tending to go a bit overboard with both- the former often had to ask her to stop covering him with kisses, and her husband was constantly having to remind her that the latter was, in fact, a dog and not a baby!).

The end result of all of this was that everyone had been far too busy doting on Chip (or in the boy’s case, being doted ON!)  to eat much dinner. This hadn’t sat too well with Cuisiner (he didn’t slave away on culinary masterpieces all day to feed the dog, he had indiginatly informed the others!). But the others didn’t care. After all, it wasn’t every day that they had the honor of eating with the sweetest, most cheerful person in the entire castle (even Cogsworth had let a smile or two slip during the meal!)!

________

The sun was nearly below the horizon now. Their duties finished for the day, Lumière and Plumette were at last able to relax and fully enjoy being Chip’s caregivers. Lumière- before ultimately becoming the boy’s “horsie”- entertained the youngster by doing everything from building elaborate structures out of blocks with him to making him laugh by forming his hands into various shapes and making shadow pictures on the wall.

Plumette, meanwhile, just sat back and watched. She had fully intended to join her amour and their charge in their play- but as soon as Lumière had begun his “routine”, an odd feeling had come over her. It was the same one she had felt that morning, and she still wasn’t entirely sure what it was. All she knew was that seeing her boyfriend being so loving, silly and wonderful with Chip was causing her heart to explode with love for the former. And she felt something else, too- an ache, deep within her, that seemed to be emanating from her stomach.

 _No, NOT my stomach. It’s lower down than that, almost as if…_ The maid let out a little gasp as the realization struck her.

“Are you all right, ma chérie?” Lumière asked.

“Oui, I- Oh! It seems as though you’ve really tired him out!” Plumette interrupted herself upon noticing Chip’s current state.

“Well I should hope so! It’s nearly his bedtime!” Lumière replied, chuckling.

“Lumière, shh! He’s fast asleep!” Plumette whispered, gently lifting the dozing child off of her lover’s back.

“Ah! Too bad, he won’t get to hear the fantastic bedtime story I came up with,” the maître d' lamented.

The maid smiled as she rose and hoisted Chip to her shoulder. “And just what sort of tale would that be, mon amour?” she asked.

“A little something I like to call, 'The Candelabrum and the Feather Duster'. It’s about a dashing, debonair candelabrum whose heart is stolen by the most beautiful feather duster in all of France!” Lumière explained, his blue eyes twinkling.

“I’d like to hear that story someday,” Plumette said, wrapping her free arm around the Frenchman and nuzzling up to him.

Unfortunately for the duo, they arrived at the room Chip shared with his mother just moments later. Reluctantly parting, they quickly and quietly changed the boy into his pajamas and tucked him into bed.

“You would make a wonderful father, mon étincelle,” Plumette whispered when they were at last able to tip-toe from the room.

“You would make an even better mother, ma étoile brillante,” Lumière replied, pressing a tender kiss to her lips.

 _If only, if only!_ Plumette thought, the ache that she now recognized as longing for that which she and her beloved were not allowed- and most likely would NEVER be allowed- once again welling up within her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah, that's got to be about the most angsty way I've ever ended a fic! Anyway, hopefully you still enjoyed it! "Ma étoile brillante" is French for "My shining star" (I'm starting to amass quite the collection of Lumiette nicknames, aren't I?!). And yeah, Cogsworth may ACT like he doesn't have time for kids- but in reality he's a big old softy! :)


End file.
